BGT 2024-25: Sai Sudharshan and Devdutt Padikkal to stay back; Gill & KL not full recovered ahead of First Test vs Australia

Sai Sudarshan and Devdutt

The much-awaited Border Gavaskar Trophy is set to start on the 22nd November at Perth in Australia. The preparations are in full swing as the Indian team are on the verge of getting knocked out of World Test Championship Final which is scheduled to be held in London June next year. However, ahead of the series, Indian team has gotten a few blows with Rohit Sharma being unavailable for the first Test, KL Rahul and Shubham Gill getting injuries, and Virat Kohli’s form.

Seeing the current issues, the selectors have decided to ask Sai Sudharshan and Devdutt Padikkal, who had good outings for India A to stay back for the Test series until there’s clarity on the availability of players. It will be interesting to see if the players are added into the India’s Test squad ahead of the First Test.

Devdutt Padikkal Test Career

Further, Devdutt Padikkal made his Test debut against England in the home series where he batted in one innings and scored prolific 65 runs. However, in the same series, Sarfaraz Khan stole the show with his brilliant knocks and the limelight got shifted on him. On the other hand, Sai Sudharshan is yet to make Test debut for India. But knowing his class with the bat, the BCCI selectors asked him to stay back.

It is most likely that Rohit Sharma will miss the first Test due to birth of his second child, while Shubman Gill’s availability is also a big question mark. While practicing in the nets, Gill injured himself and as per the reports, he is most likely to miss the first Test as well.

Seeing the importance of this Test match, if BCCI decides to keep both Devdutt Padikkal and Sai Sudharshan in Australia, it looks most likely that former will get to play his second Test match for India in the absence of Shubman Gill.

Here’s India Probable XI for first Test vs Australia:

KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant (WK), Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah (C), Harshit Rana, and Mohammad Siraj.